Saturday, October 24, 2009

Go ahead and talk about himbecause he makes you doubt,Because he has denied himselfthe things that you can't live without.Laugh at him behind his backjust like the others do,Remind him of what he used to bewhen he comes walkin' through.

He's the property of JesusResent him to the boneYou got something betterYou've got a heart of stone

Stop your conversation when he passes on the street,Hope he falls upon himself, oh, won't that be sweetBecause he can't be exploited by superstition anymoreBecause he can't be bribed or boughtby the things that you adore.

He's the property of JesusResent him to the boneYou got something betterYou've got a heart of stone

When the whip that's keeping you in linedoesn't make him jump,Say he's hard-of-hearin', say that he's a chump.Say he's out of step with reality as you try to test his nerveBecause he doesn't pay no tribute to the king that you serve.

He's the property of JesusResent him to the boneYou got something betterYou've got a heart of stone

Say that he's a loser 'cause he got no common senseBecause he don't increase his worthat someone else's expense.Because he's not afraid of trying, say he got no style,'Cause he doesn't tell you jokes or fairy tales,say things that make you smile.

He's the property of JesusResent him to the boneYou got something betterYou've got a heart of stone

You can laugh at salvation,you can play Olympic games,You think that when you rest at lastyou'll go back from where you came.But you've picked up quite a storyand you've changed since the womb.What happened to the real you,you've been captured but by whom?

He's the property of JesusResent him to the boneYou got something betterYou've got a heart of stone

It was billed as one of the most important fossil finds in history, a “missing link” that would challenge everything we knew about human evolution.

Darwinius masillae, the primitive primate that was unveiled to the world with huge fanfare and a Sir David Attenborough documentary in May, seems now to have been less of a missing link than an evolutionary dead end. Far from being an ancestor to humans, the lemur-like creature from 47 million years ago belongs to an entirely different branch of the primate family tree that has left no known descendants, research has indicated.

When Jørn Hurum, of the University of Oslo Natural History Museum, announced the discovery of the astonishingly well-preserved fossil, he described it as “the first link to all humans”. He nicknamed the animal “Ida” after his daughter, and a promotional website, a film and a book claimed that she could have been the common ancestor of all modern monkeys and apes, a relic of a critical branching moment in human evolution. Sir David, who narrated the documentary, said: “This little creature is going to show us our connection with the rest of all mammals. The link they would have said until now is missing, is no longer missing.”

The discovery of fossils of another similar animal from 37 million years ago has now cast grave doubt on that idea. Both Darwinius masillae and the new primate, Afradapis longicristatus, appear to belong to a different lineage, closer to lemurs than monkeys and apes, that died out without modern descendants.

In favouring style over substance, Ida’s promoters sold the public a false version of our own evolutionary history

A major analysis of 117 living and extinct primates found that neither new fossil belongs on the evolutionary path that led to the anthropoids — higher primates such as monkeys, apes and humans.

Erik Seiffert, of Stony Brook University in New York state, who led the study, said: “Our analysis provides no support for the claim that Darwinius is a link in the origin of higher primates, and instead indicates that, if anything, Darwinius is more relevant for our understanding of the origin of lemurs and lorises — which are our most distant primate relatives.”

The findings, published in the journal Nature, will reignite controversy over the Darwinius fossil. While it sheds important light on primate evolution, the bold claims about its position as an ancestor to humans surprised many palaeontologists, who felt that the PR hype was not justified by the evidence. Critics said that Darwinius appeared to be an adapid — an extinct group more closely related to modern lemurs than to anthropoids.

There was also widespread dismay at Dr Hurum’s decision to sell film and book rights to the discovery before it had been published in a peer-reviewed journal. That meant that his controversial interpretation was presented to the public before it had been tested by the scientific community.

The new fossils, the first of which were found by Dr Seiffert’s team in Egypt in 2001, indicate strongly that this interpretation was indeed wrong. While Afradapis longicristatus and Darwinius have some anatomical features similar to anthropoids, Dr Seiffert’s research shows that these must have evolved independently.

“We compiled a large dataset of anatomical observations, made across 117 living and extinct primates, including all of the fossil primates that have been proposed as possible early members of the anthropoid group,” Dr Seiffert said. “We used a computer program to find the primate family tree that provides the simplest explanation for the distribution of these traits. In that tree, adapiform primates like Darwinius and Afradapis are not placed close to higher primates, but rather are situated as closer relatives of the living lemurs and lorises.”

Dr Seiffert said: “The PR hype surrounding the Darwinius description was very confusing. The uninformed observer watching the associated documentary certainly must have come away with a very different view — specifically that Darwinius truly was a critically important link in the origin of higher primates, if not the origin of apes or even humans.

“Documentaries are extremely important for public understanding of science, so scientists and the media need to work together to make sure that they have their facts straight, and that they are portraying a balanced view of the evidence. I think that the most responsible approach would be to create documentaries well after publication of scientific results.”

Then GOD said,"Let us make man in our image,in our likeness,and let them rule over the fish of the seaand the birds of the air,over the livestock,over all the earth,and over all the creaturesthat move along the ground."~ Genesis 1:26

Friend of Oprah, Larry King & semi regular guest on MSNBC new age con man James Arthur Ray charged 9K per person to cook 3 people to death in a bogus sweat lodge ceremony on October 8. He has not yet been charged with any crime.

"Wasichu" is the Lakota word for white man. It has nothing to do with the color of a person's skin, the word wasichu literally translates to "fat taker" - a greedy person who cravenly takes "the fat" of the land or the best parts of all things for himself. Perfect name for this asshole. Why he has not been charged with murder and taken into custody in my opinion is likely due to his powerful friends and his huge fat bank account. Just like the Ramseys and OJ. Certainly if I pulled this shit in my back yard I would be in the hooskow right now, nu? Money buys him "respectability"? Well not with me.

We have been talking about this story since it happened on the threads here. I lived with the Lakota in 1986 and participated in actual sweat lodge ceremonies, which are nothing like what is described here. First of all, THERE WAS NEVER A FEE. Spleen poster Q-Burn also has had years of experience with the Lakota and participated in many real sweat ceremonies. Q-Burn was the one who told us of this horrible story in the first place. Both of us know this guy is a criminal and he should be charged with murder. This article says it was a "simulated Native American ceremony"

In a real Lakota sweat, all you have to do is say MITAKU OYASIN! (all my relatives!) if you feel badly and want out, and the person in charge of the sweat opens the flap and out you go.Exactly what I did 24 years ago. I was the first one out of my first sweat. There was no shame in it. And you never, never never go without food and water for FIVE DAYS like that asshole had them doing before entering a sweat - this should be common sense, dehydration is the least of your problems at that point... you do not fast and go with out water at all before doing a sweat in my experience... So, thanks to James Arthur Ray, wasichu deluxe, (and the man who plays GOD in your exclusive 10K vision quest) we now have 2 dozen foolish people hospitalized and three dead:

"He poured a 5-gallon bucket of water over the rocks, sending a rush of steam throughout the makeshift structure. "

uhhhh too much.... we used to do it WITH A LARGE LADLE. He is lucky he did not steam cook someone to death...

Bunn lasted the entire two hours in the sweat lodge

uhhhh too long - I do not ever remember ever staying inside a sweat that long do you Q?

When participants exhibited weakness, Ray urged them to push past it and chided those who wanted to leave, she said. "I can't get her to move. I can't get her to wake up," Bunn recalls hearing from two sides of the 415-square-foot sweat lodge. Ray's response: "Leave her alone, she'll be dealt with in the next round."

uhhhhh - too big, too many people, I have never seen anything on that scale have you Q? Denying people exit? She'll be dealt with in the next round? There ain't gonna be no next round for her. As people were writhing on the ground begging for water and dying, "Ray was standing about 10 feet away, watching, Bunn said. "He didn't do anything, he didn't participate in helping.He did nothing. He just stood there."

MITAKU OYASIN!

Shawna Bowen, a Cottonwood substance-abuse counselor, was invited by friends to the sweat-lodge event. She said Friday that when she got there, people were lying outside the makeshift enclosure and that those frantic to pull people out apparently had torn down part of it."They were like, 'Screw it, we're ripping it apart,' " she said

Howard Bragman, a spokesman for Ray, said many people at the "Spiritual Warrior" event had "amazing experiences," and noted that people should not rush to judgment about what occurred during an ongoing investigation.

Sure, Brag Man.... certainly dying is an amazing experience, you total piece of shit. Rush to judgment? Good luck at yours. Here is the great Ray's lame statement on the event. Note - the second word in it is ME. He is being disparaged and accused! Criticized even! It is all about HIM. This "statement" is vile. Any sensible person should be able to read the staggering arrogance in it immediately.

For me, for the families and friends of the sick and deceased and for many people who believe in the important work we do, these have been the most difficult ten days of our lives.

People are throwing out accusations and disparaging me and our mission. Yet despite that, and despite considerable criticism, I have chosen to continue with my work. It's too important not to. One of the lessons I teach is that you have to confront and embrace adversity and learn and grow from it. I promise you I am doing a lot of learning and growing. I have taken heat for that decision, but if I chose to lock myself in my home, I am sure I would be criticized for hiding and not practicing what I preach.

SNIP

Surely he has not refunded dollar one, to anyone, either. His work is too important not to continue! What a piece of shit this guy is. Wasichu is the PERFECT word for him.

In order to help reduce time spent obtaining the right photo or logo, we have supplied you with various photos of James Ray in this section.

Ray stopped short of apologizing to participants for not being at the Angel Valley Retreat Center the morning after the deaths, saying "I hope you understand it certainly wasn't my wish not to be with you and bring you some kind of closure."

Ray declined to be interviewed by the sheriff's office on the night of the incident and returned to California, where his company, James Ray International, is based.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — More than 50 followers of spiritual guru James Arthur Ray had just endured five strenuous days of fasting, sleep-deprivation and mind-altering breathing exercises when he led them into a sweat lodge ceremony.

It was supposed to be a religious awakening, the culmination of a $9,000-plus-a-person retreat outside Sedona, Ariz., aimed at helping people find a new vision for life. But it wasn't long before the ceremony turned into a terrifying experience.

People were vomiting in the stifling heat, gasping for air, and lying lifeless on the sand and gravel floor beneath them, according to participant Beverley Bunn. One man was burned when he crawled into the rocks, seemingly unaware of what he was doing, she said. Ultimately, three people would die.

When participants exhibited weakness, Ray urged them to push past it and chided those who wanted to leave, she said. "I can't get her to move. I can't get her to wake up," Bunn recalls hearing from two sides of the 415-square-foot sweat lodge. Ray's response: "Leave her alone, she'll be dealt with in the next round."

Bunn, a 43-year-old Texas resident, provided her wrenching description of the sweat lodge tragedy in an interview with The Associated Press, the first public account from a participant in the Oct. 8 ceremony.

It also marks a significant revelation in the criminal investigation into Ray over the episode because it portrays him as driving participants to stay in the lodge despite signs all around him that the situation had gone bad. Investigators are considering bringing charges against the guru and trying to learn about his actions that night in a case that has cast a harsh spotlight on Ray and his self-help empire.

Howard Bragman, a spokesman for Ray, said many people at the "Spiritual Warrior" event had "amazing experiences," and noted that people should not rush to judgment about what occurred during an ongoing investigation.

"This is only one person out of many at this point," he said.

According to Bunn, participants were given short notice before they were to enter the sweat lodge. As they readied for it, they removed their jewelry, placed prayer pouches filled with nicotine around their necks and ripped out pages in a journal they kept detailing what in life was holding them back.

A fire heating up rocks outside the sweat lodge consumed the journal pages.

Lightly dressed in bathing suits, shorts and tank tops, they received a blessing meant to cut away negative energy before crawling into the sweat lodge. Ray led the group inside and sat next to the opening. A second row formed, their bodies closest to what would be a pile of heated rocks.

Ray sprinkled them with sandalwood meant for aroma. He led the group in chants and prayers in a Native American tongue during the sweat lodge ceremony. He poured a 5-gallon bucket of water over the rocks, sending a rush of steam throughout the makeshift structure. That began a two-hour ceremony broken up into 15-20 minute rounds that some would later describe as "profound," according to a transcript of a call Ray held with participants days later.

For others, it was terrifying.

Participants began to show signs they were weakening midway through the ceremony. By the time people started collapsing, Bunn had already crawled to a spot near the opening of the sweat lodge, praying for the door to stay open as long as possible between rounds so that she could breathe in fresh air.

At one point, someone lifted up the back of the tent, allowing light into the otherwise pitch-black tent. Ray demanded to know where the light was coming from and who committed the "sacrilegious act," Bunn said. A man, yelling "I can't take it, I can't breathe, I can't do this" had crawled out, Bunn said.

People were not physically forced to stay inside but highly encouraged. "It was all about mind over matter, you're stronger than your body," Bunn said.

Bunn lasted the entire two hours in the sweat lodge but nearly two dozen others were hospitalized. Kirby Brown, 38, of Westtown, N.Y., and James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee, died upon arrival at a hospital. Liz Neuman, 49, of Prior Lake, Minn., died more than a week later at a Flagstaff hospital.

No drugs, alcohol nor stimulants of any kind used in the sweat lodge or during the retreat, Bunn said.

"These people, including myself were really just searching for a better way to live and a better life," she said. "And I commend us for that."

Looking back, she said it's easy to see how so many people were overcome. No one was well-hydrated, the sweat lodge was poorly ventilated, no safety tips were provided and appropriate medical care wasn't available, she said.

As the leader of the "Spiritual Warrior" event, Ray pushed for participants to go without sleep, enter into altered states of mind through breathing exercises and meditation, compete in a game in which he played God and fast for 36 hours during a vision quest, Bunn said.

Sheriff's investigators in Arizona's Yavapai County are treating the deaths as homicides but have yet to determine the cause. Ray has hired his own investigative team to try to determine what went wrong, and vowed to continue with his work despite criticism.

"I have taken heat for that decision, but if I choose to lock myself in my home, I am sure I would be criticized for hiding and not practicing what I preach," he wrote.

Ray has become a self-help superstar by packaging his charismatic personality and selling wealth. He uses free seminars to recruit people to expensive seminars like the Sedona retreat that led to the sweat lodge tragedy.

Ray told participants the sweat lodge ceremony would be one of the most intense experiences of their lives.

As it neared the end, Bunn said some participants found themselves physically and mentally unable to tend to those around them. After the eighth round, Ray instructed them to exit the sweat lodge just has they had entered — going clockwise, a movement meant to symbolize being inside a mother's womb.

What followed was a triage situation with people laid out on tarps and water being thrown on them to bring down body temperatures. Some people weren't breathing and had bloodshot eyes. One woman unknowingly walked toward the fire before someone grabbed her, Bunn said.

Off to the side, a medical doctor participating in the retreat performed CPR on Shore and Brown with the aid of others. When Bunn asked if she could help because she knew CPR, she was told to stay back.

Ray was standing about 10 feet away, watching, Bunn said. "He didn't do anything, he didn't participate in helping. He did nothing. He just stood there."

James Arthur Ray is transforming the way the world thinks. As an internationally-renowned Personal Success Strategist, Visionary and New York Times Best-Selling Author who has traveled the globe dedicating over two decades of his life to studying the thoughts, actions, and habits of those who create true wealth in every area of their life, James delivers his practical teachings to hundreds of thousands of individuals and business leaders every year.

A white man, James Arthur Ray, who owns a company called Spiritual Warrior charges 60 people almost $10,000 each, or more than a half a million dollars, then directs them not to eat or drink for three days before allowing them to cook in a sweat lodge.

Each person is then allowed only a space equivalent to two foot by 3 foot space to sit until they “see the light” or die! His Twitter site even says “something must die before something new can be born”

How many things are wrong here? Well first this traditional Native American event is truly a spiritual event, not a “For Profit Event”. Second, the true event is held by a person of native indian descent who have knowledge and understandings of the nature of the spiritual journey. It appears that once again greed interfered with common sense. Why would anyone pay these outrages fees to be conducted by someone who doesn’t even know or understand the spiritual meaning or significance? One must ask what James Arthur Ray, a self proclaimed wealth builder, of non Native American descent, from southern California has to do with Native American spiritual growth?

Ray's company, James Ray International, is based in Carlsbad, California and brags of raising profits of over 500% last year. He holds two hour wealth building seminars around the country for up to 2000 people for $2000 per person, that’s 2 million an hour, not bad! What do Native Americans have to say about this? We had to ask. So we’ve contacted the spokesperson for the Native American Indian Cultural Center. In general they are appalled and insulted that anyone would take their age old spiritual tradition and turn it into a Greed Mongers’ Money Grabbing Machine and on top of that abuse it in such an insane way that people would put their life on the line.

A spokesperson of the nonprofit cultural center in the heart of the Black Hills of South Dakota called All Nations Indigenous Native American Indian Cultural Center said this is one of the reason we are trying to help by educating everyone about the history of Native Americans. We wish to accurately inform the general public as to our traditions. Sweat lodges are not games to be played with by people that do not have the understanding of their use in spiritual journeys, quests or healing. Our hearts go out to the families of the people that have been affective in a negative way over this mater.

Arvol Looking Horse, a 19th Generation, Keeper of our Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, says, “I am concerned for the 2 deaths and illnesses of the many people that participated in a sweat lodge in Sedona, Arizona that brought our sacred rite under fire in the news. I would like to clarify that this lodge and many others, are not our ceremonial way of life, because of the way they are being conducted.

My prayers go out for their families and loved ones for their loss. Our ceremonies are about life and healing, from the time this ancient ceremonial rite was given to our people, never has death been a part of our inikag¹a (life within) when conducted properly. Today the rite is interpreted as a sweat lodge, it is much more than that. So the term does not fit our real meaning of purification.

SNIP

What has happened in the news with the make shift sauna called the sweat lodge is not our ceremonial way of life!

Two people died in a distorted New Age version of a Native sweatlodge in Sedona. Dozens more were badly injured. They each paid over $9000 for a bastardized version of a ceremony which by tradition must never be charged for. Natives don't believe in "pay to pray," but apparently the New Age movement does. It is far more of a consumerist phenomena than a genuine spiritual movement. Many lost, misguided, and genuinely sincere seekers get caught up in the idea of paying cash for shortcuts to salvation, and Oprah Winfrey seems to be among them.

Winfrey promoted New Age leader James Arthur Ray on her program a number of times. It was Ray who jammed over sixty people into a "sweatbox." Traditionally perhaps a dozen people are in a sweatlodge. The lodge is made from natural materials so the heat will not be too intense. But not Ray's "sweatbox." It was sealed with heavy plastic tarp to deliberately make the heat as intense as possible. People even competed to see who could withstand the highest temperatures, making it a bizarre contest rather than a ceremony to heal. Traditionally most of those in a sweatlodge have been through it before so they could guide novices, but seemingly the clients/victims of Ray's outnumbered those conducting it by at least twenty to one.

SNIP

Yes the people who paid him 9K and bought into his bullshit were at the very least, credulous... and incredibly stupid. But they did not deserve to die for it.

As the leader of the "Spiritual Warrior" event, Ray pushed for participants to go without sleep, enter into altered states of mind through breathing exercises and meditation, compete in a game in which he played God and fast for 36 hours during a vision quest, Bunn said.

in which he played God

in which he played God

in which he played God

Well, now you have killed people. How does it feel to be "god"?

May the GOD of Israel see this incident, and recompense. Ray should be in jail, not hawking his bullshit on your TV.

Kind words and a real good heartDoesn't mean you get respectKind words and a real good heartDoesn't mean you get the bestIt doesn't mean the whole world loves youIt doesn't mean more than it meansWith a kind heart

I will meet you on the other side of the moonThe doctors say they must operate soonBut there's no knowing what they'll findwhen they open up the woundI will meet you on the other side of the moonI will meet you at the bottom of the seaWe will lie inside the ocean and schemeOur friend the Arab will guide us while we dreamI will meet you at the bottom of the sea....

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Here's hoping all the days aheadWont be as bitter as the ones behind you.Be an optimist instead,And somehow happiness will find you.Forget what happened yesterday,I know that better things are on the way.

CALIFORNIA BECOMES SECOND STATE TO PROTECT AMERICANS FROM FOREIGN LIBEL LAWSby Michael Travis

The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed a law yesterday that will protect American journalist and broadcasters from British and foreign libel judgments and the court rulings of other. The new legislation effectively negates the practice of libel tourism.

It represents the growing opposition among Americans to Britain's libel laws, which are in conflict with the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects freedom of speech.

The law gives California courts the power to block libel judgments from Britain and Canada which, the state’s Senate Rules Committee say, have "become the jurisdictional Mecca and Medina for the rich and famous".

The Committee adds its new law would "diminish the chilling impact of libel tourism on aggressive reporting about important international issues."

The California law echoes one enacted by the state of New York in March 2008, called the libel terrorism protection act, which is the direct result of the Rachel Ehrenfeld controversy.

Dr. Ehrenfeld was sued in London by a Saudi Arabian businessman over her 2003 book on terrorist financing, Funding Evil, which alleged that the man and his family had provided financial support to Islamic terrorist groups.

Though her book was not published in Britain, some 20 copies had been purchased through UK-registered websites and several excerpts had been published online.

Dr. Ehrenfeld, who chose not to defend the action, was criticized by British judge, Justice David Eady, who ruled that she must pay £10,000 to each plaintiff plus costs; apologize for her false allegations; and destroy all existing copies of her book.

The decision outraged many American politicians, journalists and lawyers who believe the British courts are inhibiting freedom of expression. Dr.Ehrenfeld has also turned into a campaigner on the issue. She wrote an article last week in protest against the plight of Paul L. Williams and Canada's libel laws. Dr. Williams is being tried in Canada for statements he made concerning jihadi activity at McMaster University. The suit, he contends, has stripped him of his professional career and has left him financially destitute.

Two other states - - Illinois and Florida - - have enacted legislation to shield people from libel judgments made outside America.

There is also a proposal to create a federal US law, the Free Speech Protection Act, to bar American courts from enforcing libel judgments issued in foreign courts against US residents if the speech/editorial content would not be considered libelous under American law.

The Daily Mail (London) in an editorial that appeared yesterday refers to London as "the libel capital of the world". It concludes: "Doesn't it shame us that one American state after another... has found it necessary to pass laws protecting its citizens' freedom of expression from the book-burning rulings of the British courts?"

Everybody's gonna prayOn the very last dayWhen they hear that bellRing the world awayEverybody's gonna pray to the heavens on the Judgment Day

Well you can sing about the great King DavidAnd you can preach about the wisdom of SaulAbout the Judgment falls on all mankindWhen the trumpet sounds the callAll equal and the sameWhen the Lord, He calls your nameGet ready brothers for that day

Everybody's gonna prayOn the very last dayWhen they hear that bellRing the world awayEverybody's gonna pray to the heavens on the Judgment Day

Everybody's gonna prayOn the very last dayWhen they hear that bellRing the world awayEverybody's gonna pray to the heavens on the Judgment Day

Well one day soon all men will standHis words will be heeded in all the landMen shall know and men shall seeWe all are brothers and we all are freeMankind was made of clayEach of us in the very same wayGet ready brothers for that day

Everybody's gonna prayOn the very last dayWhen they hear that bellRing the world awayEverybody's gonna pray to the heavens on the Judgment Day

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,nor his ear too dull to hear.But your iniquities have separatedyou from your God;your sins have hidden his face from you,so that he will not hear.For your hands are stained with blood,your fingers with guilt.Your lips have spoken lies,and your tongue mutters wicked things.No one calls for justice;no one pleads his case with integrity.They rely on empty arguments and speak lies;they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.They hatch the eggs of vipersand spin a spider's web.Whoever eats their eggs will die,and when one is broken, an adder is hatched.Their cobwebs are useless for clothing;they cannot cover themselves with what they make.Their deeds are evil deeds,and acts of violence are in their hands.Their feet rush into sin;they are swift to shed innocent blood.Their thoughts are evil thoughts;ruin and destruction mark their ways.The way of peace they do not know;there is no justice in their paths.They have turned them into crooked roads;no one who walks in them will know peace.So justice is far from us,and righteousness does not reach us.We look for light, but all is darkness;for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.~ Isaiah 59

I am a United States citizen on trial in Canada for exposing a situation at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario that threatened the lives and welfare of Canadians and Americans alike. My book "The Dunces of Doomsday," published in the U.S. by Cumberland House, revealed potential terrorist threats from al- Qaeda affiliates at McMaster. The university is suing me for libel, demanding $4 million in punitive and aggregated damages.

Unlike American libel laws where the plaintiff must prove that what said about him is not true and it was said in malice, Canadian libel laws, like the British, put the burden of proof on the defendant, not on the plaintiff.

What I wrote and said about McMaster from my home in Pennsylvania falls well within the standards of responsible journalism. Nevertheless, I have been dragged into court in Toronto, Canada, to be tried under Canadian law that lacks the U.S. Constitutional protection of free speech.

This ordeal has damaged my professional career, depleted my life savings, and placed me in financial jeopardy.

I am not alone.

Other writers have suffered a similar fate, including Joe Sharkey, a New Jersey-based freelance business journalist is being sued for reporting about a plane crash he survived over the Amazon. A woman who claims Sharkey offended the “dignity” of Brazil by criticizing its air-traffic control is suing him for libel in Brazil. This despite the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board’s conclusion that the Brazilian air traffic control was responsible to the crash. She demands $500,000 and apologies in national and international media outlets.

Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, whose criticism of a Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi billionaire who funded al Qaeda, has resulted in a judgment by default in British court against her for allegedly defaming the Saudi. She was ordered to pay $250,000, apologize in international media outlets and destroy her book: Funding Evil; How Terrorism Is Financed – and How to Stop It.

The same ordeal can befall all investigative reporters in the U.S. unless federal legislators pass The Free Speech Protection Act 2009, which is now before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Last week my pretrial took place in Toronto. It was not a pleasant experience. My Canadian lawyers and the appointed mediator spent seven hours attempting to coerce me into signing an apology to McMaster University for stating the truth. They maintained that none of my statements were factual according to Canadian libel laws.

I pointed to the fact that McMaster was home to several al-Qaeda members who plotted to blow up Canada’s Parliament and behead its prime minister. In fact, a week before my pretrial took place, the guilty plea of a McMaster student, Saad Gaya, to charges of terrorism captured the headlines of Canadian newspapers. Gaya was one of eighteen al-Qaeda affiliates also charged with planning to blow up trucks loaded with bombs at the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Toronto office of the Canadian Security intelligence Service and a military base on Ontario. He was the eleventh to be convicted. The remaining seven members of the group, known as the “Toronto 18,” remain in prison awaiting trial. Such statements of fact have done little to persuade McMaster to drop the lawsuit, and my trial is set for April 2010.

In Canada, as in England and Brazil, truth is not an absolute defense. No American citizen should be stripped of his/her Constitutional rights by foreign countries or foreign entities. Congress should act immediately to pass the Free Speech Protection Act 2009.

The Flying Camel

Arebel's Diary

BabbaZed Vinyl Cultessa 2012

BabbaZee Repenthouse Pet 1982

Should GOD reward you on your terms then, when you refuse to repent? You must decide, not I... So, tell me what you know... ~ Job 34:33

"You surrender in your own name. Leave me out of it. "

Obey & Endure

No matter how many times I explain to people that I understand that they feel lost and helpless and betrayed by their leaders in the face of the Jihad, that I understand deeply that these are the only people that you perceive to be "standing up to jihad" - no matter how much irrefutable information I give you that many of these so called anti jihadists are just as bad as the jihad itself - You will turn the blind eye out of expedience, out of fear, out of laziness, out of shallowness of moral character, out of stupidity, out of tribal affiliation, out of complacency, out of ignorance, out of vanity, out of hatred.... take your pick. In any event you will chose to stay blind. Let those who have eyes, see:

This Notta Blahhhg Has Been Approved By The Elderbunny Of Zion

TO DONATE VIA PAYPAL CLICK THE ICON BELOW:

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

~ Leviticus 20:13

Next time someone tries to shove some Homo Stultus dogma down your throat it would please me very much if you would use the following links to express your disinterest in their Darwingelical Dawkins Da'Wa....